


A Prescription for Disaster

by yankeetooter



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: Blindness, Gen, Glasses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 02:34:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20369215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yankeetooter/pseuds/yankeetooter
Summary: Valery breaks his glasses at Chernobyl.





	A Prescription for Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fact that in the Chernobyl HBO stills, Valery definitely has different glasses on at various times.

Boris and Valery watched from the rooftop as the last of the buses pulled away. Finally, Pripyat was being evacuated. But Boris and Valery were stuck here, working to prevent further damage. Their fate was already determined, and even if they had been on one of those buses, it would have been too late.

Boris turned to go before Valery. The news of their shortened lifespans still weighed heavily on him, and he needed time to process it. And Valery could sense Boris' pain, which is why he let Boris start back to the roof access door on his own, although his eyes followed him concernedly. It was all he could do for Boris right now, giving him space. And hadn't Boris done the same thing for him after that first helicopter crashed? Valery had needed to distance himself for a little bit to deal with the pain; Boris needed the same.

Finally, Valery made his way across the roof towards the door. Tripping over the odd piece of rubbish, he stumbled and fell to his knees clumsily, his glasses flying off in the process. Feeling around blindly, Valery desperately tried to find them, but he could barely see. He crawled forward. Putting his right knee down, he heard a ominous crunch and felt a stab of pain in his knee. His glasses!

He gingerly picked them up, mindful of the broken glass, but they were rendered useless. He could feel blood running down his pants leg from the piece of glass that had stabbed him. He had better tend to his leg first.

The cut wasn't too bad. Valery pulled the piece of glass out gingerly, then applied pressure with his handkerchief until the bleeding stopped. He'd better not put much weight on it though - wouldn't want to reopen the cut.

In the process of looking for his glasses, then taking care of his injury, Valery had lost all sense of direction. Where was the door? He was afraid to stand and try to walk, as he wasn't sure where the edge of the roof was. He tried to crawl, but his knee quickly reminded him that wasn't a good idea. He could scoot along on the seat of his pants, but that was very slow.

The light was going and it was getting chilly. Valery tried not to think of how many radioactive particles had landed on the roof he was sitting on. Oh, how could he have been so stupid and clumsy? He moved around in a vain effort to find the door, but had no luck. The gravel on the roof was biting into his palms and he was thoroughly miserable.

______________________

Boris sat at the bar, nursing a drink. He glanced out the door and saw the light fading. Where was Valery? He hadn't seen him since he came inside. He'd better find him before he buried himself in paperwork and forgot to eat dinner.

Boris looked for him in his room, even his bedroom, but there was no sign of Valery. Where could he be? He couldn't have left the hotel, or Boris would have seen him, as the hotel bar was right near the entrance. He appreciated that Valery was giving him time and space to deal with his shock and grief, but this was too much! And, he had to admit, he kind of missed the insufferable bastard.

He remembered his mother telling him when he was a young boy and had lost his favorite toy, "Always look for something lost where you last saw it." So, although it didn't make any sense, Boris headed back up to the roof.

Boris opened the roof access door and looked out in the twilight. Sitting some distance away was Valery, his head in his hands. Boris ran over to him and crouched down. 

"Valery! What the hell? Why are you sitting here? It's almost dark and getting cold!"

When Valery pulled his hands away, Boris saw he wasn't wearing his glasses. Valery peered myopically in the direction of Boris' voice.

"My glasses! I tripped and they fell off and broke! I couldn't find the door to get back inside!"

Boris hid a smile, not that Valery could see it. This knucklehead of a scientist! Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Valery was growing on him.

"Come on, let me help you.". Putting his arms around Valery, Boris easily lifted him to his feet. Then, with his arm around Valery's waist, he guided him to the door.

"Valery, are you limping?". Valery turned red.

"I...I cut my knee when I, that is, when I knelt on my glasses and broke them." he admitted sheepishly.

Boris cupped Valery's face in his hands. "One of the most brilliant people I know, and yet you seem to have a real knack for getting yourself in a scrape, don't you? Come on then, put your weight on me. I'll help you."

Valery blushed as he complied. Boris' hands were large and strong and had felt oh so warm against his cheeks! Boris had him tucked up against him as he half carried Valery along, seemingly effortlessly.

Once Boris got Valery back to his room, he insisted on washing and disinfecting Valery's knee himself. Valery shyly protested, but he might as well have been telling the sun not to shine for all the good it did. 

"Now for dinner," Boris said. "I'll bring us up something to eat, then we'll figure out how we're going to get you a new pair of glasses. I don't suppose you have a spare pair, either here or back at the institute?"

Valery mumbled something, making Boris lean in closer. "What was that, Valery?"

Valery blushed at Boris' closeness. He could smell the man's aftershave for goodness sake! "I...broke them a couple of months ago." he admitted.

Boris let out a laugh. "Of course you did, my silly Valera! No worries! After five thousand tons of sand and boron, a pair of glasses shouldn't be a problem!"

______________________

But, as it turned out, it took almost a week before a pair of glasses with the right prescription arrived in Pripyat. Boris had had to, with Valery's help, locate his optometrist in Moscow. Then he had the doctor make a new pair of glasses based on Valery's last check-up, which, thankfully wasn't that long ago.

That week of waiting was an exercise in impatience and frustration for Valery...and a very eye-opening experience to boot. Boris helped him with everything, showing a patience and understanding Valery would never have guessed that the man possessed. 

As far as their work, Boris kept Valery up-to-date on reports, reading them to Valery as they came in. Again and again, he was impressed with Valery's ability to remember the figures he read to him, performing many of the calculations in his head. Boris was his scribe when needed, and did everything he could to hide Valery's situation from the others. Only Pikalov had any clue what was happening, and he kept his mouth shut. Personally, he was touched at how Boris looked after Valery.

But it was with more personal matters that Boris' help set off mixed feelings in Valery. Boris insisted on helping Valery dress every morning, picking out what he should wear. He combed Valery's hair and tied his tie. (And that in itself was an improvement, Boris thought to himself.) When Boris noticed the stubble on Valery's face a day or so later, he insisted on carefully shaving Valery. It got to the point where Valery thought Boris might offer to help him in the shower, a thought that made Valery blush in horror and excitement at the same time.

The change in Boris was remarkable too. In caring for Valery, the shock and hurt of his shortened mortality had faded to the background. Meanwhile, his affection for Valery continued to grow. Something about Valery's helplessness, his vulnerability, brought something out in Boris that he didn't know he had. Years serving in the military and fighting in the war had hardened him; working in the Soviet political system had finished the job.

But Valery somehow brought out a tenderness and affection in Boris. And Boris liked playing the part of protector to Valery. He also liked teasing Valery and seeing his shy smile, his blushing cheeks. That man, who had seemed like an antisocial, uppity scientist, had revealed himself to be a thoughtful, rather insecure person who seemed to yearn for friendship and affection.

______________________

And so, the long wait of a week was finally over and the glasses were delivered to a relieved Valery. But both men secretly felt a sad regret that the past week of enforced closeness had come to an end.


End file.
